Default debugging in a multiroot workspace sets working directory inconsistently

[jolampi]

When running tasks in VS Code, the default working directory is current workspace's root folder. However, in the case of a multiroot workspace with no custom launch tasks, the debugger doesn't seem to handle files from different roots consistently. The working folder, when printed, seems to depend on which ever root the first active file was from. This causes confusing errors for example when attempting to open a file using a relative path.

Of course this could be circumvented by defining a tasks.json file for each root in the workspace. In some circumstances though, it is much more convenient to simply be able to debug the active file.

This issue occurs at least with javascript and python files (latter using the Python extension).

• VSCode Version: 1.51.1
• OS Version: Linux Ubuntu 19.10 64bit, Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a multi-root workspace with the following structure:

rootA
  fileA.js
rootB
  fileB.js

2. Set contents of both files A and B to console.log(process.cwd()).
3. With no launch.json present, "Run and Debug" both files with node.js while they are active.
4. The expected behavior is for fileA to print rootA and for fileB to print rootB. Instead the outcome is same in both scenarios and appears to depend on whichever file was active first.

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[weinand]

VS Code does not set the "working directory" for a debugging session. If this is important for a specific debugger, then the corresponding debug extension should set the "working directory" automatically or support a "cwd" property in the corresponding launch config.

I suggest that you file issues against the debuggers that have a problem in this area.